The Columbia men's basketball team will finish out the 2012-13 season this weekend at Harvard on Friday, March 8 and Dartmouth on Saturday, March 9. Both games are slated to begin at 7 p.m.

Both games can be heard live on www.gocolumbialions.com or through the Columbia Athletics app (click here for more information) on mobile devices. SideLion subscibers can view Dartmouth's stream, courtesy of DartmouthSports.com. Jerry Recco and Dalen Cuff '06CC will bring you all the action.

LIONS’ STATUS
Columbia earned a split in its final home weekend, knocking off Yale on Friday before losing a heartbreaker, 61-58, to Brown on a buzzer-beater on senior night. It was the Lions’ eighth loss by six points or less this season. The Lions led by 11 points at the half, but the Bears slowly chipped away and eventually took a four-point lead with 3:07 remaining. Columbia evened the score on a pair of free-throws with three seconds left, but Tucker Halpern drained a trey as time expired. Senior Brian Barbour scored 18 points and posted a career-best five steals.

CRIMSON’S STATUS
Harvard dropped a pair of games to Princeton and Penn last weekend, dropping a game behind the first-place Tigers in the Ivy League standings heading into the final weekend of the season. The Crimson led early against Princeton on Friday night, but could not hold on as the Tigers avenged a Feb. 16 loss to draw even for first-place. On Saturday, the Quakers shot 52.8 percent and outscored Harvard 34-14 in the paint, but still had to hold off the Crimson rally to come away with the 75-72 win at the Palestra.

BIG GREEN’S STATUS
Dartmouth picked up its third road win of the season after a 69-64 win at the Palestra on Friday night and gave Princeton a tough time before dropping a five-point decision at Jadwin Gym. The Big Green held a one-point lead at the half, but could not hold on as the Tigers escaped with the win to take first place in the conference standings. Tyler Melville scored 23 points, on 9-of-11 shooting, in the defeat and Gabas Maldunas scored 17 and grabbed 12 boards.

A LOOK BACK - HARVARD VS. COLUMBIA - FEB. 10, 2013
Columbia shot over 50 percent from the floor and out-rebounded Harvard, 33-22, en route to a 78-63 win over Harvard in Levien Gymnasium. The win halted a seven-game Harvard win streak vs. the Lions, dating back to February 14, 2009.

Steve Frankoski scored 20 of his 27 points in the first half to help Columbia take a four-point lead into the intermission and the Lions continued their hot-shooting in the second half, leading by as many as 18 in the contest.

Columbia used a strong effort on the offensive glass to overcome an 0-for-11 start from 3-point range to stay in the game in the first half and trailed by just three heading into the break.

The Lions held a pair of brief leads in the second half, but Alex Mitola seemed to come up with every big play for the Big Green and helped them regain a four-point advantage with under a minute to go. Down by three with 31 seconds to go, Steve Frankoski got two decent looks to tie the game, but both shots rimmed out to preserve the win for Dartmouth.

Mark Cisco scored 16 points and pulled down nine boards for the Lions. Connor Boehm finished with 20 points for the Big Green.

STREAK BUSTERS
The Lions 59-46 win over Yale on March 1 was the first in Columbia’s last nine tries, snapping an eight-game losing streak to the Bulldogs, dating back to Jan. 30, 2009. It was the second time this season the Lions had halted a winless streak against an Ivy League opponent after they defeated Harvard on Feb. 10 to end the Crimson’s run of seven-straight in the teams’ rivalry.

LO-RIDER
First-year Maodo Lo has blossomed into a go-to player for the Lions as of late, including a pair of big performances against Princeton and a 20-point outburst against Yale on March 1. After averaging just 2.9 points in non-conference play, the slashing guard has averaged 9.6 points in 14 Ivy League contests. Lo has started the last 17 games for the Lions and scored in double-figures seven times during that stretch.

BEEN CAUGHT STEALING
Senior Brian Barbour’s five steals against Brown on March 2 set a new career high for one of Columbia’s most prolific pick-pockets in school history. He comes into his final weekend of play with 121 career swipes, which ranks him third on the all-time list.

LIONS OVERCOME DROUGHT TO TOP PENN
The Lions topped Penn on Feb. 23 by 17 points despite not scoring a field goal for the final 15:18 of the contest. Columbia was just 2-for-20 in the second half, but the Quakers shot just 4-for-24 and were unable to make a rally. Penn shot 29.2 percent for the game, marking the first time Columbia held a team to under 30 percent shooting since January of 2009 against NJIT (29.9 percent).
JOHNNY HUSTLE
It may not have shown on the stat-sheet, but senior John Daniels ‘hustle and defensive effort paid huge dividends in the Lions’ win over Penn on Feb. 23. In the first half, Daniels dove over a table at press row to keep the ball in bounds, leading to a key three in a tight game at the time. A few minutes later, he came up with a huge rejection to bring the 2,000+ fans in Levien Gym to their feet.

FRANKIE SAYS RELAX
Sophomore Steve Frankoski averaged 21.0 points over three games between Feb. 10-16, converting on 13-of-20 (65 percent) of his 3-point tries. He poured in a career-high 27 points, including 20 in the first half alone, in the Lions convincing win over Harvard on Feb. 10. It was the first time a Columbia player scored 25+ points since Meiko Lyles against Fairleigh Dickinson last season. He comes into this weekend with 59 made triples, the ninth highest single-season total in school history.

GOOD MORNING, GIL
First-year Brad Gilson came off the bench and scored the first 11 points of his collegiate career at Yale on Feb. 16. Gilson knocked down 3-of-5 of his attempts from 3-point range and pulled down a pair of rebounds while logging a career-high 13 minutes.

SEEING RED
On Feb. 10, Columbia snapped a seven-game losing streak to Harvard, dating back to Feb. 14, 2009, after a 78-63 romp of the first-place Crimson. It was also the Lions largest margin of victory over Harvard since Feb. 2, 2007, when Columbia claimed a 90-70 win on the road.

HANDLE WITH CARE
Columbia has done a tremendous job taking care of the ball this season, averaging 11.0 turnovers per game, which is the 19th fewest in the nation. Additionally, Brian Barbour ranks eighth in the NCAA, holding a 3.09:1 ratio.